


Across the Universes

by Persephone_Kore



Category: Norse Mythology, Thor (2011)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-03
Updated: 2012-08-03
Packaged: 2017-11-11 09:11:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/476929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persephone_Kore/pseuds/Persephone_Kore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki from the 2011 <i>Thor</i> movie and Loki from the Eddas of Norse mythology inadvertently trade places, to the confusion of all parties and the alarm of some. And <i>then</i> they actually <i>meet</i> and get to talk about their families....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Loki awoke with a sense that something was not quite right. 

This had happened before, but usually it was fairly easy to pin down once he woke up enough to remember what he'd been doing last. In this case, however, he couldn't recall anything that would explain it. He took his nose out of Sigyn's neck and looked around instead. 

This was not the room where they'd gone to sleep. This was not any room he'd ever seen in his life. The bedding was slippery, the mattress an odd consistency, and the contents of the room only got more perplexing from there. Also, it was almost uncomfortably warm, there was no sign of fire except a candle-stub with green wax, and something inexplicably smelled like snow. 

Loki rubbed his eyes and nudged Sigyn. "Sigyn, wake up and stay calm. I have no idea where we are." 

She blinked twice and sat up, looking around with equal bewilderment. "If this is a kidnapping, it's a very odd one. Have you tried getting out?" 

"Not yet. I just woke up myself." There was an unshuttered window, which would be promising if it weren't obviously enchanted, so he tried that before the door. It also turned out to be blocked by a sheet of perfectly clear glass. Loki hesitated to start breaking things until he found out what was going on, particularly ones that were enchanted in ways he couldn't analyze, but after a little more investigation, the window turned out to open. The air outside was cool enough to make the heat of the room even more puzzling, and it smelled like autumn leaves. And not snow. 

Loki stuck an arm out the window. Nothing happened. 

" _What_ ," Sigyn said from just behind him, as the sun came out from behind the clouds and the city around them lit in dazzling reflections, "are they making these buildings out of?" 

That was another good question. They looked like polished bronze. Much of Asgard was covered in gold, but it wasn't quite this pervasive. "Whoever lives here likes to show off, I think," Loki said. "And they're rather good at it."

A knock sounded at the door. They both turned and looked at it incredulously. It repeated a few times, and an unfamiliar voice called, "Loki! Aren't you awake yet?" 

They looked at each other and shrugged. It didn't sound _angry_. A little impatient perhaps. Loki strode to the door and, not really expecting it to open, pulled on it. 

To his astonishment, it did open. To his further astonishment, the blond man on the other side of the door looked him over and then growled, "Who are you and where is my brother?" The air crackled with menace.

"I'm Loki," Loki said patiently. "I assumed you knew that, as you just called me by name. I don't know where your brother is. I'd like to know who _you_ are, where we are, and how we got here." 

The other man stared at him. "I am Thor," he said, with an air of barely restrained fury. "You are in my brother Loki's room, and I want an explanation. Now." A pause. "I would also like you and -- and whoever that is -- to put some clothes on." 

"You're... Thor?" Loki tried not to sound incredulous. Could be a namesake. Namesakes were not unheard-of. On the other hand, his hair was standing on end with the electricity in the air. He and Sigyn had been kidnapped by a storm giant who introduced himself as Thor and demanded... no, that was too ridiculous. "I am Loki. But not your brother, obviously. This is my wife Sigyn. We went to sleep in our own bed and woke up here. I was going to ask what you wanted with us, but evidently you don't." 

Sigyn quietly appropriated a robe that presumably belonged to the missing Loki and wrapped herself in it. After a moment she fished in the pocket with a frown and came up with a startled expression and a double-ended throwing knife. She gave the blond Thor a wary glance and set it next to the candle. 

Thor gave Loki a long, critical look and then let out an explosive huff. "He and Father were talking about alternate universes the other day," he said. "Perhaps there's been some sort of accident. Do you _know_ a Thor?" 

"Yes," Loki said cautiously. 

"Does he look anything like me?"

Loki wasn't entirely sure where this line of questioning was going, but the air felt less like an oncoming storm. "Not really. And he is my friend and often my traveling companion, but not my brother." 

"Well, that's odd." Thor sighed. "You'd better talk to Odin." 

Loki glanced down at himself. "And shall I borrow your brother's clothing, or does all of it include more weapons than you want a stranger carrying before Odin?" 

"I think he could handle you," Thor said a little dryly, "but let's try to keep it simple." He turned his head and roared, "SIF!" -- and then shut the door on them. 

Loki, somewhat annoyed by this, opened it again and put his head around it. The woman who came jogging down the hall looked nothing whatsoever like the Sif he knew, starting with the black hair, and she was wearing armor. Thor explained -- much more quietly -- that the hunting trip was off, Loki was missing, and there were two intruders, one also claiming to be named Loki, who should be brought before Odin, but preferably not stark naked. 

"And while you stand guard, you want me to discreetly find clothes for the crazy people who may or may not have kidnapped your brother."

"Yes." 

"Why me?" Sif muttered. 

"Because you're the one who came to see what was taking so long." 

Sif scowled at Loki. 

He shrugged. "I'm reasonably sure I haven't kidnapped anyone." At least, not lately, no one they knew, and certainly nobody he was about to bring up now.

"If you had, we could make you tell us where he is." She stalked away. Loki supposed he could understand her wanting an identifiable culprit instead of a mystery, but in this case, if he knew what had happened, he really would explain without being forced. 

Once dressed and conducted to the king, Loki found himself quietly relieved that the Odin they were supposed to talk to was still an old man with one eye. And having noted that Thor carried a hammer and Odin a spear -- even if those didn't look quite right either -- he was definitely relieved that Odin seemed to think Thor's 'alternate universes' theory was plausible and that he and Sigyn had not in fact made off with the other Loki. Especially since everyone seemed rather worried about him. 

Meanwhile, at least the Asgardians were hospitable enough once they'd been declared not to be enemies. He and Sigyn were offered breakfast and civil conversation, although some friend of Thor's named Volstagg seemed to be the only other person with much of an appetite. Everyone else seemed poised to form a search party and dash off at the first clue. To be fair, so did Volstagg, who dropped his piece of ham and surged to his feet with as hopeful a look as the rest when the Allfather walked in. 

Odin waved them down and asked Loki and Sigyn to come with him when they were done. They glanced at each other and followed him out.

"I suppose it's most likely that he's wherever you came from," Odin said later, frowning over a set of magical items that were as unfamiliar as everything else in this place. Loki was debating whether he could justify asking about them on the grounds that he might be able to help if he had some idea what was going on. Simple curiosity was generally a good enough reason to ask Odin about anything, although not necessarily good enough for him to answer, but this Odin was trying to search beyond the worlds he could see for his missing... son. "What is it like?" 

"It's Asgard," Loki said. Odin gave him a that-is-not-helpful look. Loki sighed. "It's a world, a realm, a walled city. Not a... planet or dimension or whatever else you called this place." 

The entire situation was made stranger by a language barrier that was more like a muddy path with occasional pits in it. They weren't speaking the same language, but the Asgardians -- 'Aesir' had been one of the few words that tripped them up, of all things -- seemed to know his, and he could usually understand them. And then they would say something like "planet" that might mean world and might mean wanderer and might mean something chasing the sun and going too fast to catch it. Maybe he just didn't understand how they handled kennings yet. 

Odin stared down at his paraphernalia with an air of frustration. "Is he likely to be all right there?" 

Loki blinked and exchanged a look with Sigyn. He was used to Odin assuming he could take care of himself, but then, this Loki seemed to be much younger. "If we somehow exchanged places," he said, suddenly even more glad Sigyn had come along in the transition, "he'll probably run into Thor first, too. As I go traveling rather often without much notice, he's not likely to be accused of kidnapping. I imagine everyone will be fairly confused for a while, but unless he does something particularly stupid he'll probably be fine." 

"That's... promising," Odin decided after a moment. "Now to find it. Even if he's not there, I assume you two want to go home." 

"We appreciate that. It's east of Vanaheim and west of Jotunheim," Sigyn added, trying to be helpful. 

Odin sighed. "Not the Jotunheim we know, I think." 

"Let me guess," Loki said, "that's another planet." 

"Entirely frozen," Odin said. "Home of the Jotnar, the frost giants." 

Loki blinked. "Just frost giants?" 

"You were expecting something else?" 

"Rock, mountain, storm, fire...?" Loki snapped his fingers and held out his hand with a flame dancing in the palm.

Odin shook his head. "Only frost. Though my son does share with you some talent with fire." 

"That reminds me," Loki said thoughtfully. "Is this other Loki your son by blood?"

Odin frowned at him. "Of course." 

Loki looked into that one eye and smiled. "You're lying." 

Odin straightened, glaring at him. "He is my son." 

"And you are not lying about that," Loki said pleasantly. "But you didn't sire him. I was wondering. I am one of the few in Asgard -- the other Asgard -- who was not born a close relative of Odin. We made ourselves blood brothers long ago, but I was born in Jotunheim." A long pause, holding Odin's gaze. "They call me Liesmith, Odin. It's nothing to me if you want to keep the secret from the rest of your people. But how did you come to have him?"

Odin yielded with a sigh. "I stole him from the frost giants' temple at the end of our last battle with them. He was the son of Laufey, their king, but small for one of their children and left alone among the rubble." 

Loki blinked. "Laufey was my mother," he said. 

Odin shrugged. "It would probably be interesting to see you tell that to the one of this world-tree, but I am not in a hurry to arrange a meeting." 

Loki wasn't particularly desperate for one either. "And how could you know whose child it was? Or, in the midst of a battle, if it had been abandoned willingly?" Not that it would necessarily have mattered, at that point. 

Odin smiled thinly. "You are not the only one who finds out what others would prefer you did not." 

"It is certainly a habit of the Odin I know," Loki conceded. "At any rate, as you can't trace him by blood, perhaps we should see if it helps to put me in contact with something that represents him?"

Some minutes later, Loki found himself staring at a helmet with two long and stunningly impractical horns on it. "I'm trying to decide," he breathed in Sigyn's ear when they had a moment with Odin hopefully out of hearing, "if it's a joke he's playing on everyone else or the other way around." 

"I don't know," Sigyn murmured, "but I think Odin's going to want you to put it on." 

She was right. At least the horns were better balanced than they looked. And their combined effort yielded an arrow-sharp sense of a direction that didn't quite exist, and caused Odin to announce that this told him how to calibrate the Bifrost. 

"How to _what?_ " Sigyn asked. 

Odin shook his head. "If you want to stay that long, I'll explain later." 

*****


	2. Chapter 2

Loki awoke with a sense that something was not quite right. 

He lay still with his eyes shut for a moment and catalogued reasons for this. The air on his cheek was cool. The bedding was coarser cloth than it should be, rather as if he were traveling -- which he hadn't been -- and it smelled like woodsmoke and sex -- which were likewise not explained by his recent activities. He didn't hear anyone moving around, but he made himself mostly invisible and left an illusion lying still as he sat up. 

No one there, but he was definitely not in his own room or bed. Or anywhere else he'd ever seen. And he felt a chilly ache in his spine as if he'd overstrained himself magically, which suggested that this might be his own fault. He had to remember not to fall asleep thinking about new spells. But where was he, whose bed was this, and how was he going to get back? Somehow he didn't think going back to sleep and hoping for the best was an ideal solution, although he'd consider it if nothing else worked. 

Meanwhile, he was apparently exploring some other world in his pajamas. Well, he could fix that. He transformed them, wishing he'd slept with throwing knives -- there were only so many he could conjure without a basis -- made himself invisible again, and ventured out of the room. 

He didn't exactly get lost in the sense of not being able to find his way back to the start, but he certainly grew rapidly bewildered. The building was enormous, not laid out by any familiar plan, and populated largely by people who seemed to think they were dead. They also spoke frequently of Thor. 

Loki finally made his way out of the halls of the dead or delusional and into a part of the house occupied by, among others, a tall, red-bearded man who carried a short-handled hammer and fairly reeked of lightning. And goats, though that wasn't nearly as distinctive. He decided he was going to have to talk to somebody, and this world's equivalent of his brother seemed like the best start he was likely to make. 

He waited until the man was alone, then stepped out of the room, let himself become visible, and walked back in. "Excuse me," he began, but got no further. 

"Loki! Where have you been all morning? Where's Sigyn?" He took a second look. "And what are you wearing?"

Loki blinked. He wasn't surprised that there was a Loki in this universe, but given how different Thor looked, he hadn't considered being mistaken for his counterpart. The thought crossed his mind to try to keep it up, but was as quickly discarded -- for one thing, it would be rude, and for another, he knew nothing about the other Loki. Including where, or who, Sigyn might be. "I am not the Loki you know," he said. 

The man's eyebrows darted together, and he came over and tipped Loki's head up, holding his gaze for a long and surprisingly unsettling moment. "Indeed you aren't. Though you almost have his eyes. Who are you, then?" 

"Someone else named Loki. Ah -- you _are_ Thor?" 

A snort. "I am. I don't get asked that often." 

This, Loki could easily believe. "No, I'd imagine it would hardly--"

"And the last time was also by someone else named Loki, and wasn't meant courteously." 

Loki paused. Blinked. "I intended no discourtesy. Ah... this has happened before?" 

"Well, he didn't turn up at my _house_. We'd gone to his, in fact."

"Ah. Where was that?" Loki asked, wondering if he'd even be able to make sense of their designations for alternate universes when he hadn't even come to this one on purpose. 

"Utgard," Thor said, "in Jotunheim." 

"You were visiting Jotunheim?" Actually going to Jotunheim was, to Loki, a matter for tales of the past generations' wars and for empty talk by the fire when Odin wasn't listening. 

Thor gave him an odd look. "It's hardly unusual. It's just the next world over, right across the river." 

"I suppose that's one way to put it. But I'm not sure I'm following. Are you still at war with them?" The alternative was difficult to imagine, but he supposed it had to be considered. "Or is the treaty, ah, more open?" 

By this point Thor was looking at him as if he had doubts about Loki's sanity, which was not an altogether unusual response, or his intelligence, which was more so and turned out to be distinctly annoying. "What are you talking about? They're not the Vanir." 

"Of course not," Loki said, trying to think of any conceivable reason for the non sequitur. 

"Exactly where are you from, then?" Thor asked, frowning. "Both the Lokis I've met are jotnar; I assumed you were too." 

" _What?_ " Loki's fists clenched, and he felt himself go pale and cold with fury at the insult. Except that he retained enough presence of mind to notice that the remark had been completely matter of fact, and Thor's suspicion seemed based on Loki's not _knowing_ how things stood with Jotunheim, not on thinking he was a frost giant. Different universes. He forced his fingers to uncurl and said carefully, "I am not. In my home universe, I am of Asgard, I am Odin's son, and a war against Jotunheim ended when I was an infant but things are still... shall we say... strained." 

Thor eyed him for a long moment and then said, "In your home _what_?" 

It turned out that Loki had jumped to entirely the wrong conclusion. This universe was not experienced in contacting other universes, and explaining the concept was a challenge. Thor was remarkably patient for someone who probably thought he was talking to a lunatic. The other 'someone else named Loki' really had been simply that, a separate person with a similar name. Jotunheim was not another planet, and you could get there by crossing a river. On an actual bridge. Thor took him to look at it and introduced him in passing to Heimdall as "some sort of cousin of Loki's, I think." (This was probably as close as they were going to get without repeating the entire discussion, so Loki let it pass.) Heimdall was a blond with moonlight-pale skin and golden teeth. 

Loki stared across the river, trying to absorb just _how_ different a universe he'd landed himself in, until a woman probably about twice his height -- but not blue -- walked out of the trees and eyed him back, then looked past him with an inquisitive expression. Loki glanced up over his shoulder in time to see Thor wave at her. Thor also appeared to have grown about a foot since the last time Loki had looked at him. 

Loki resisted the urge to rub his eyes. "You know her?" he asked, feeling he might at this point be numb to further shocks. 

"Oh, that's Jarnsaxa. She's the mother of one of my sons, Magni. He's four years old and stronger than any of the rest of the Aesir," Thor said proudly. 

Loki determined that he was not actually numb to further shocks. "You have a son with a giantess?" 

Thor snorted good-humoredly. "Doesn't everybody? Well, besides the goddesses, generally. Ah, right, I suppose your lot wouldn't. Still, did you really seal the treaty with no hostages?" 

"Asgard _won_ ," Loki said shortly. "Odin took the Casket of Ancient Winters from Jotunheim, broke their power, and cut them off from the rest of the Nine Worlds. There was no need for an exchange of hostages." 

"And you're sure you aren't adopted?" Thor asked lightly. 

Loki scowled at him. " _Yes._ " 

Thor clapped him on the shoulder, which was plainly a restrained use of his strength and yet significantly harder than the same gesture from his brother. This was a bit troubling. "Don't bristle so. Odin took our Loki as his brother, after all. The jotnar here are hardly all bad. Some of them do need killing, but others are fair hosts." A grin. "Especially some of the giantesses. My own mother's one of the most powerful; she represents the earth of Midgard. So why were you at war with yours?" 

Loki decided he was not quite up to asking how that last one worked. His Asgard had a few tales of _very_ long-past romances with strangers who had walked the world-tree when the paths of it were still being discovered, with no Bifrost and no Casket and no likely way home -- but he'd always assumed the cross-species ones were nonsense accretions to tales from when "foreigner" could be someone from the same planet, because everyone knew you couldn't touch a frost giant without your flesh freezing. And nobody was representing the earth of anywhere, although that tickled at a memory he couldn't quite place. "They meant to take over Midgard and make it a frozen wasteland like Jotunheim. The humans could hardly have lived in that, even if the frost giants had let them alone otherwise." 

"Ah," Thor said. "Well, that's a good reason, though I'd hardly call Jotunheim a wasteland. And I can't imagine how the frost giants would have gotten everyone else to go along with it." 

"There isn't an 'everyone else.'" At least, Loki was fairly sure there wasn't.

Thor frowned. "Rock, mountain, storm, fire....?" 

"Their entire world is frozen. Colder than the depths of winter. I should think if they bore anyone with an affinity for fire, he'd be killed as an abomination. Or at least a climate hazard." 

That got a laugh. "This other Jotunheim sounds more like Niflheim." 

Loki's eyebrows shot up. "I don't think _they_ could make Midgard comfortable without tearing it away from the sun. The atmosphere there is liquid. If you open a way there, it boils and water condenses into it -- that's why we named it for mists. I suppose that's different here too?" 

Thor paused to consider this and offered, "I'd say there's less swimming." 

Loki got the distinct feeling they were both starting to give up on complete explanations. This could be a problem. Particularly since they had yet to address one of the more awkward aspects of his arrival. "I will probably have to continue asking you foolish questions. Some of your answers remind me a little of stories our Midgard used to tell about us--" He paused. Maybe there had been some past traffic. "At least, that were thought to be told about us. But I was never very familiar with them, and I think I will need to understand your worlds better in order to return home and, ah, retrieve the Loki you know." 

Thor looked at him in surprise. "I'm sure he'll turn up. He travels as much as I do." 

"I'm not sure you underst--" Loki broke off and grimaced. "I don't think I've made myself clear. I went to sleep last night at home and woke up in your house, in a bed someone else had clearly been using before me, with no one there. I rather suspect we've changed places." 

"Even if you're right, he'll still probably find his way back eventually," Thor said. "And if no one was there, Sigyn's gone too. If you'd simply swapped places with him, you'd have found yourself in her arms." 

"...That would certainly have been awkward." But it was conceivable that if they'd been closely enough entwined, they might have traveled together. At least the remark shed some light on who Sigyn was. 

"More likely they've just gone somewhere. Or changed shape and are hiding to see what you do."

Loki blinked. "Done what, now?" 

"You don't shapeshift?" 

"No, but now I might have to look into it." 

"But you do travel between universes in your sleep." Thor sounded amused by this. 

Loki sighed. "Only the once." 

"I assume that involves some form of magic, anyway, so there's that in common, along with the name and the eyes. What do you do the rest of the time?" 

"I... am a prince of Asgard. I study, train, perform whatever tasks Father assigns, go adventuring with my brother and his friends when they decide to look for trouble--" 

Thor burst out laughing. "Don't try to tell me that is never your doing." 

Loki eyed him for a moment and then smiled. "I won't. Not that they are difficult to persuade."

"Oh, I wouldn't think so," Thor said easily. "At least if your brother is anything like me." 

"He is in some ways," Loki said after thinking about it a little while. The smell of lightning and the smile, at least. The basic assumption of the role of protector. The air of unshakable confidence, except he had a feeling there was better reason for it here than with his relatively untried brother. This Thor annoyed him less, but he was starting to miss the one who usually knew what Loki was talking about. Well, at least half the time. Not to mention vice versa. "I imagine he'd admire you." 

"Hmm. So who are these friends of his?" There was the slightest hesitation before 'his.' 

"Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg, mainly. As I'm somewhat younger than the rest of them, I seem to serve as a surrogate for those who lack their own annoying little brother."

"Ah, our Loki manages that in spite of being older than most of the Aesir except Odin," Thor said cheerfully. "My wife's name is Sif. Never heard of the rest." 

Thor decided it was time to return to the house, and Loki wasn't inclined to argue. He had probably been staring at Jotunheim more than long enough as it was. Heimdall was probably going to think "Loki's cousin" was homesick or something. Which was not entirely inaccurate, leaving aside the location. 

He was introduced to this universe's Sif, who turned out to be literally golden-haired, which turned out to be his counterpart's doing. He'd cut her hair and then, to make restitution, gone to the dwarves to replace it. (Loki could not imagine the Sif he knew wanting several feet of dense metal on her head, no matter how fine. On the other hand, she hadn't been thrilled when he'd turned her hair black regrowing it, either.) The ensuing complications had also resulted in Mjolnir and Gungnir and in his counterpart, rather astonishingly, getting his mouth sewn shut. Loki resolved to avoid both errands and gambling until he got back to his own universe. 

Thor made an effort to explain him to Odin, who _also_ asked if Loki was sure he wasn't adopted. Loki managed not to snap at the question this time. He spent an hour on comparative cosmology and then, rather to his surprise, half the afternoon discussing horses with Thor's son Magni. 

The subject of Magni's favorite horse led back to a race between its previous owner, who had been a Jotun, and Odin, who had illustrated that the other Loki was not the only one inclined to alarming wagers. Odin's horse was eight-legged Sleipnir in this universe too, but the Sleipnir Loki knew was taller and less smug, though they shared a taste for mead-soaked apple slices. The Sleipnir Loki knew was also not his child. He was beginning to worry about what his counterpart might come up with in the process of trying to get home, which encouraged him to make a more concentrated effort of his own. 

In the absence of any of his usual equipment, he was watching a flame burn in his cupped hands and trying to reason his way back to his dreaming mind's cross-universe discovery (and to ignore the looks he was getting, as the other Loki evidently didn't perform magic by sitting around glaring at things, even when he didn't know what he was doing) when a familiar roar filled the air. 

Loki and Thor both jumped to their feet; Thor immediately charged out of the room, which Loki felt he should have expected. He chased after him. "It's the Bifrost," he called. 

Thor glanced back. Loki was rather impressed that he didn't run into a wall in the process. "What do you think happened to it?" 

"What? --No, it's _our_ Bifrost. It--" They emerged and halted to watch the whirlwind. Thor looked rather as if he'd like to hit it. "It doesn't always end the same place," Loki finished, feeling that perhaps he should have made more of an effort to explain this. But he hadn't actually expected it to turn up. 

"Neither does ours," Thor said, frowning, "but it doesn't do this, either." 

The wind settled to reveal Loki's father and brother, along with a man and woman he had never seen before. Probably this universe's missing Loki and Sigyn, particularly as they looked at Thor with recognition and him with curiosity. 

Odin -- this universe's Odin -- had also appeared, just outside the Bifrost mark, arms folded. "I do not think I approve of this," he said. 

The two Odins appeared to understand each other without much more elaboration; Loki's father smiled faintly and inclined his head. "I don't think I would either, but I came to retrieve my son. And return some friends of yours. It won't be a repeated intrusion." 

The other Loki had ambled out of the mark by this point, Sigyn beside him. He looked Loki over thoughtfully and then gave him a bright smile. "So," he said, "do you need rescuing often?" 

Both Thors burst into laughter. Loki decided he might not like his counterpart very much.


	3. Chapter 3

To absolutely no one's surprise, Odin and Odin decided that they wanted to exchange questions (and occasionally even answers) over drinks before they parted. This went on somewhat past anyone else's endurance for the game. Of course, Loki reflected, his father hardly ever slept, and the other Odin apparently lived altogether on mead and wine. Those both might have something to do with it, alongside the insatiable curiosity. 

Despite his own fascination with the discussion of magic, even his interest wore thin eventually, and he left an illusion in his place -- it wasn't as if he'd actually been participating for the past few hours -- and slipped out into the night for some fresh air. 

He was watching the horses sleep when a dog came up and nudged his hand. He petted its ears absently, then frowned and looked down. The dog danced a step or two sideways and said in his counterpart's voice, "I thought you seemed a little absent in there." 

"Ah," Loki said, somehow unsurprised. "Hello. They told me you could shapeshift." 

"They told me you played with illusions." 

Played with, indeed. "That doesn't surprise me." 

"I'm not sure if you should mention it here. I toyed with the possibility you were not _my_ counterpart but Utgard-Loki's -- have you heard about him?" 

"I was told the story. I think I'd worry less about the illusions than the fact that he apparently had the personification of Old Age in his house, but after discovering this actually is where humans in your world system go when they die, I suppose perhaps that's normal around here." 

"Well, not all of them," the other Loki said, stretching upward and becoming the image of Loki himself. Loki tried not to look unsettled. "Peasants to Thor's house, the battle-slain and princes divided between Freya and Odin, others still to Hel, and the dishonored dead to huddle in Niflheim in houses built of serpents." 

Loki blinked. "How does that--"

"The snakes are frozen, of course." 

"I suppose they would have to be." 

The other Loki grinned and shifted back to the form in which he'd returned to this Asgard. Loki watched the change consideringly and decided he almost certainly couldn't do that, at least not the same way. "Were you offended earlier?" 

"About the rescuing question?" He supposed that was probably as good as a yes. "I'd been warned you made a habit of playing annoying little brother to people younger than you." 

A chuckle. "There was a great deal of fuss over your absence. By your parents in particular, but Thor and your friends seemed on the verge of racing off at the first hint of a destination. I'm used to having it assumed, with varying accuracy, that I can look after myself." The other Loki looked at him thoughtfully. "I had thought you might simply not disappear with any regularity, but now I wonder if you're just less open about it." 

Loki shrugged and flickered into invisibility. His counterpart squinted and then focused on him again, so he'd probably spotted the telltale refraction. He let it drop. "Every once in a while. I generally don't make longer trips," in terms of duration, "by myself." 

"Not much of a traveler?" 

Loki smiled, thinking of his rediscovery of how to walk between worlds alone. (Of course, that was a less impressive accomplishment here.) "I wouldn't go that far. But I tend to have commitments at home, and as you noticed, an illusion is not always satisfactory." 

"Now where is it you go when not accidentally crossing universes, I wonder?" the other Loki asked musingly. "Or sneaking out of long discussions?" 

"The library, sometimes."

"Mm-hmm. Never, say, Jotunheim?" 

"That would be a violation of the treaty with them and potentially lead to renewed war. Besides, one can hardly go anywhere secretly that requires asking Heimdall for passage." 

The other Loki laughed at him again. "You are not as practiced in deception as you seem to think. You accidentally travel between, ah, groups of worlds in your sleep, but you need Heimdall to travel more locally?" 

Loki gave him an annoyed look. "I have never gone to Jotunheim," he said, precisely and truthfully. He was fairly sure he did know how to get there. He just hadn't actually taken those paths. "And if I did, I'd practically have to be looking for a fight." 

"It's odd to think of Jotunheim being so _cohesive_ ," the other Loki mused. "The one here isn't any more so than Midgard." 

"It's odd to think of you being a Jotun," Loki replied dryly. "Shapeshifting or not. And people here keep asking me if I'm certain I'm not adopted." 

His counterpart smiled briefly and then regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. "You are, actually. I asked about that. He found you as an infant in... er, _on_ Jotunheim." 

Loki froze for a moment, then forcibly rejected the thought for the absurdity it was. "And why would he tell you that?" 

"Perhaps because I could tell he was lying when he claimed to have sired you." 

Loki clenched his teeth and reminded himself first that his counterpart was supposed to be an accomplished liar himself, and second that the claim made no sense. "I did have some warning about your sense of humor," he said. "And even if I were adopted, it could hardly be from Jotunheim. You may have observed that I am not ten feet tall and _blue_." 

His counterpart blinked. "Blue?" 

Loki smirked and threw another illusion, this one not of himself but of a Jotun from his own universe, towering over them in the moonlight. Based on a painting, granted, but probably realistic enough. (He'd asked Odin once if they really looked like that, and Odin had paused and said, "Usually." The pause was suddenly bothering him.) "As you can see, not exactly plausible." 

"I take your point," the other Loki said, though he still sounded rather doubtful. "You're sure about the blue?"

"Yes. And they cause frostbite with a touch." He shrugged and added, "I _can_ \-- ice spells aren't terribly difficult -- but it's not automatic, either." 

The other Loki said mildly, "I admit your room seemed rather warm for someone with that sort of heritage, but it also smelled like snow." 

The back of his neck prickled, and he gritted his teeth in irritation. At his counterpart and at himself for reacting. "I've never noticed that." 

"Indeed." A pause, then suddenly, "Come with me." His counterpart grabbed his arm and started towing him off. 

Loki tried planting his feet and discovered the other was stronger than he looked. "Where and why?" 

"Jotunheim! You should take the chance to explore while you're here." 

Loki considered the possibility that his counterpart was slightly crazy. He also considered the possibility that between the conversation they'd just had and the other Loki's apparent talent for getting into inventive forms of trouble, he might not want to go anywhere with him. On the other hand... it did seem a shame to go to an entirely different tree of worlds and only see a bit of one. 

It was still incredibly bizarre that the rainbow bridge was just a bridge. A wintry wind lashed them as they stepped off it, and Loki paused and looked back. "Doesn't the weather cross over...?" 

"Of course not," the other Loki said. "There's a world-river in the way." 

Of course there was. Loki considered asking further, but maybe he should wait and consult Thor on questions of weather. He shrugged and followed his counterpart north. 

By dawn, they were trudging through what appeared to be an endless snowfield, although Loki was positive it had a southern border mostly because they'd walked across it a few hours ago. The other Loki was actually shivering, although -- perhaps because -- he was throwing off heat like a small furnace. Or maybe it was an act, though Loki couldn't think of a purpose for it except possibly to make him feel awkward about _not_ feeling the cold much. 

Loki wasn't shivering himself, but he felt uneasy, chilled deeper inside for reasons he couldn't pin down and wasn't sure he wanted to. He rarely minded the cold with company or being alone except in winter, but he was starting to feel frantic for a fireside with less annoying companions. Or at least more familiar ones. 

"This is not as interesting a landscape as I was expecting," he muttered, then stopped dead and stared at his counterpart. "Are you checking to see if I turn blue?" he demanded, and got a grin that would do as an admission of guilt. "We do _have_ winter in Asgard, you know. Shall we get this over with?" Exasperated, he seized his counterpart by the arm, shut his eyes, and stepped _elsewhere_. 

It wasn't the same as at home; the differences in physics and types of magic wrenched at him. But he could still see how to make it work, and he could still seek quickly for a sense of cold and aim for it, and it was exhilarating to force his own magic and the universe to cooperate for the seconds needed to step out in the middle of a glacier. The air bit at them more sharply than the place they'd left, and Loki spread his hands once and then folded his arms. "Satisfied?" 

The other Loki blinked and looked around. "We're in _Niflheim_. I hope you can do that again, or it's going to be a very long journey back." 

Loki grimaced. "I keep forgetting how close together things are here." Compared to astronomical scales, anyway. "But yes, if you're adequately convinced I am not a frost giant now, I should be able to--" 

" _Move!_ " His counterpart lunged at him, and a massive chunk of ice crashed down where they'd been standing. It took Loki a few seconds to process that it hadn't simply fallen from the sky above; it was attached to an arm. 

"Loki Laufeyjarson," growled a voice like breaking icebergs, "die for your trespasses!" 

"That," the other Loki said, " _is_ a frost giant." 

"Did you annoy him personally last time you were here," Loki asked breathlessly, scrambling back to his feet, "or are you just very recognizable?" 

The frost giant appeared to have nine heads, mounded on his shoulders and all of them scowling. Craggy ice coated his body like armor, and his fist was as tall as either of them. He swung it down at them again; this time they managed to dodge, in opposite directions, without falling over. Loki had a throwing knife at his fingertips before he realized that was idiotic. 

"Last time I was here was with Odin, which is probably enough for both! This would be a good time to leave." 

"Fine--" Loki started toward his counterpart and was thrown aside by a sweep of the frost giant's hand. He skidded across the ice until he managed to jam the knife into it and get back up to one knee. The frost giant had gotten hold of the other Loki and had him thirty feet in the air, although his hand did appear to be melting, so that might not last. 

Fury pulsed in his head. Loki conjured a javelin with a molten core, as tightly insulated and reinforced as he could make it, and poured more energy into it for several painful seconds before the throw. It went into the frost giant's heart. Loki let go of the reinforcement; the containment shattered under the temperature differential, and the energized core exploded. 

So did the frost giant. Loki threw himself down as a shockwave of cold pelted him with shrapnel ice. A boulder-sized chunk narrowly missed him. 

When things settled, Loki tried to move and discovered he was covered in chunks of ice. Possibly small chunks of frost giant, which was really a little disturbing. _Now_ he felt cold. Making the javelin out of nothing had taken a lot out of him. 

"Oh, there you are." His counterpart's voice came from unexpectedly close, and some of the icy rubble was brushed away. Loki started to push himself up, dislodging more of it, and caught sight of his own hand. 

It was deep blue. 

Loki went still in blank horror.

"Ah." The other Loki crouched down beside him. "I did try to tell you." After several seconds with no response, he added, "Might I suggest this is not the ideal time or place to freeze up?"

Loki raised his head to glare.

The other Loki's voice sharpened. "Unless you've decided you like it here, why don't we discuss it somewhere warmer?"

That got him moving. Loki seized his counterpart's arm again, not especially caring in that moment if he did damage, and yanked them both hard sideways, between places and between worlds. They came out next to the horse pasture in Asgard again. "Happy?" His voice sounded the same. Rough with sleet tears grating in his throat, but otherwise the same. It seemed wrong somehow. 

"You could drive Heimdall _crazy_ ," the other Loki said admiringly. "Now, calm down." 

"I'm a monster," Loki choked out. 

"You're an idiot. Calm down." Heat flared from the arm he still held, and his hand ached sharply for a moment as warmth bled into it. The blue faded. "Now that's interesting." The other Loki wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and the sensation was repeated. 

"I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself," Loki snapped, holding himself rigid so as not to lean into his counterpart at the feeling his face might be thawing. 

"'Interesting' and 'enjoyable' are two very different things, but I am not surprised to hear the distinction lost by Odin's son." 

Loki wrenched away at that. "Let me alone." He somehow doubted that was going to work. Possibly the only less useful demand would have been to stop mocking him. "You've proved I am not his son." 

"I think that would be a bad idea at the moment," the other Loki said calmly. "And of course you are. You're more like him -- either of him -- than many of his sons in this universe, but then, he seems to have been more involved in raising you." 

Loki swallowed. "How many sons does he have in this universe?" 

"He is called Allfather because nearly all of the Aesir are his children or grandchildren. Why, what about yours?" 

"Two," Loki said, then winced and amended, "One." 

"Oh, don't be a fool. When he said you were his son, he meant it." 

"He never told me. Why wouldn't he have told me?" 

The other Loki sighed. "I don't know, maybe he thought you'd react like this." 

Loki glared at him. "Why would he have _taken_ me?" 

"Why are you asking _me_? Maybe he thought you were cute." 

Loki winced and rubbed his head. "I suppose I should hardly expect you to take this seriously." His counterpart was a Jotun himself -- and, to be fair, not particularly monstrous. Although there seemed to be some variation here. 

"It's generally a bad idea," the other Loki said agreeably, "but I actually am."

"Cute?" Loki asked skeptically. 

"Well, that was just a guess." His counterpart gave him a look that did, in fact, seem serious enough. "I do think you're overreacting. Odin knows the difference between an enemy at war and a race of monsters to exterminate, and if you don't, it's past time you learned." Reflectively, he added, "And some monsters aren't so bad once you get to know them," which Loki felt spoiled the effect a little. 

Loki looked away. "It explains why he always preferred Thor. Why everybody did." 

"'He,' I assume, being the father who spent the entire time, from realizing you were gone to our arrival, on getting you back. And 'everybody' the friends who--"

"Thor's friends--"

"--Who came to the breakfast table armed and barely ate, waiting for word of somewhere to look for you. Touching, if impractical." 

Loki was startled to catch himself almost smiling at the evaluation. The impulse faded as soon as he noticed it. He swallowed. "They don't know." 

"First you imagine that being Jotun intrinsically puts them off despite not knowing, then that their concern for you will end if they know. Stop whining and make up your mind." A pause. "On second thought, don't make up your mind. You're obviously not very good at it." 

Loki spluttered. "How dare you? I--" 

The other Loki met his eyes evenly and broke in, "Why wouldn't I?"

He paused. "You have a point."

The other Loki shrugged. "To be fair, so do you. Your friends might not react any better than you." 

"I'd be astonished if they did," Loki said morosely. Which suggested keeping the secret from them. Which was what he was currently upset with Odin about. He thought about being angry that Odin had taken him in the first place, but couldn't quite manage it. "More secrets, then." 

"As an alternative, you could throw a fit at them and wait for everybody to calm down at once."

Loki stared at him for approximately two seconds before remembering what he had previously concluded about his counterpart's approach to solving problems. "Do people ever actually take your advice?" 

"Not nearly often enough. Then again, sometimes when they do, I wind up giving birth to a horse." 

Loki rubbed his forehead. "Yes, I heard about that. Eventually I began to wonder if my Asgard would be able to cope with whatever efforts you might make to get home." 

The other Loki chuckled. "I didn't do anything _that_ alarming."

"That comment would worry me more if it didn't sound like someone had an eye on you most of the time you were there." 

A sly look. "That evidently wouldn't stop you." More seriously, his counterpart added, "You love your home, don't you." 

Loki sighed and looked away. He didn't belong there. "Yes." He frowned. "Why do _you_ live in Asgard?" 

"I met Odin when we were both young," the other Loki said. Loki discovered this was difficult to picture. The Odin here seemed entirely likely to have been born as a formidable old man, and the earliest depictions of _his_ Odin began after his father's death, when Odin's hair was already gray. (From the stories, Loki strongly suspected it had taken that much time and sorrow for anyone to get him to sit still long enough.) He dragged his thoughts back to what his counterpart was saying. "I'll spare you the details, as we keep changing them. But we mingled our blood and swore brotherhood, and eventually I went with him to the city he was founding." A wry look. "I hesitated over Thor at first. My father was a storm giant, and I had been avoiding people who could throw lightning for a while." 

Loki studied him for a moment and didn't touch that last part, both because his counterpart was clearly using it to make a point, and because he wasn't sure how sore the topic might be if further pressed. Or for which one of them. "How many times did you and Odin first meet, shapeshifter?" he asked instead.

That got a grin. "Odin is a master of disguise." 

"That sounds like it was probably fun." 

"Often. There _was_ a point when I started to wonder if all my friends were going to turn out to be the same person." 

Loki almost smiled again at that. "I suppose if you live here, you can keep better track of him."

"Well," said his counterpart, "that's debatable. Neither of us stays put very well. There's a reason a few of his names are Wanderer. I suppose it helps you that yours tend to travel in a small horde."

"Six is hardly enough for even a small horde," Loki objected, and was about to add something about their being Thor's friends before realizing he'd automatically counted both himself and Thor into the not-quite-a-horde anyway. 

"That depends on the membership, I think," said the other Loki. "They struck me as capable of being horde-like. They followed us to your very strange Bifrost, and your father growled at them to make them stay behind." 

Loki let out a choking laugh. "He--" This broke off again into a strangled giggle. His counterpart looked like he wanted to pat him on the head, although not really unsympathetic about it. Loki was quite sure it was the other Loki's intention to interfere with his bad mood, and could even sort of appreciate it, but he made a determined effort to get his voice under control. "Uh, yes. He does that." 

"It was too bad, really. They'd have had an interesting visit." 

"Your Odin didn't look too happy about the people who _did_ come. I'm not sure tripling the number of unexpected guests would have helped."

His counterpart shrugged easily. "He doesn't like there being a way into Asgard that can't be walled off or guarded. That it's under the control of someone a bit too much like him is not entirely reassuring." 

"You don't sound worried," Loki observed. 

The other Loki raised his eyebrows. "I don't worry." 

Loki gave him a long and thoughtful look. "Your mind must be a remarkably strange place. Even Thor worries. Occasionally. I think." 

"Of course he -- oh, you mean yours." His counterpart shrugged again. "I'm used to it. I think I used to do it a bit more, now and then, but it never helped. Perhaps you'll grow out of it." 

"I doubt it." Loki found himself staring back at the hall. 

"You should talk to your father," his counterpart said gently. "I can't speak for anything else, but he does love you. And it's hardly going to be a revelation to him." A pause. "You can blame me for your finding out, if you like."

Loki snorted. "Well, it was your doing." 

The other Loki jumped to his feet, leaving Loki to scramble up in confusion. "Meanwhile, we should go back in where there is fire and ale and food. And an audience. Your Asgard is at least enough like ours to appreciate the tale of our battle against the ice giant!" 

"Oh, certainly," Loki said drily. "After you keep telling me not to worry about being one!" 

The other Loki rolled his eyes. "That one was an _enemy_. Try to keep up." And he darted off. 

Loki shook his head in disbelief and chased him in.


End file.
